They have tons of new surprises to share for the new season, including giant custom four foot tall chandeliers made from packages, icecles and ornaments, a nine-foot tall Gingerbread house, a Santa’s throne perfect for selfies, and music currated with help from Mr. Christmas XPN’s Robert Drake.

Tinsel is Philadelphia’s only local-designed Christmas pop-up bar located in a 100+ year former jewelry shop. Tinsel passes the baton from the sparkle of diamonds to now the twinkle of hundreds of holiday lights. Tinsel brings new life into the street level space that was vacant in the heart of Midtown Village. Last year, Tinsel was full to capacity from the day it open in early December until the day it closed on New Years Day. This year, Tinsel expands days of the week, hours of operation, bar space and square footage.

* New Highlights: Snow Globe Cocktails, Music by DJ Robert Drake and Soup Can Cocktails to Benefit MANNA *

Philadelphia, PA – Teddy Sourias and Craft Concepts Group announce the season grand opening of Tinsel Christmas Pop-up Bar at 116 S. 12th Street, Philadelphia. The mad elves from Tradesman’s, BRU Craft & Wurst, Cinder Copper & Lace, U-Bahn, Uptown Beer Garden, Kontrol and Finn McCool’s Ale House have spent months decking the halls and brings back this holiday sensation back with an even bigger space, extended hours, more days, extra twinkle, added glitter, festive holiday tunes and more. New surprises include music playlist curated with help from Mr. Christmas himself, DJ Robert Drake from XPN, and a custom take-home Tinsel soup can with cocktail to benefit MANNA. The holiday-themed cocktail and craft beer bar will grand open on Thursday, December 6, 2018 and run through New Year’s Day. Tinsel’s hours will be Monday and Tuesday, from 5:00pm to 10:00pm, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 2:00pm to Midnight, Saturday Noon to Midnight, and Sunday Noon to 10:00pm. Tinsel will offer happy hour specials Monday through Friday 5:00pm to 6:00pm with $2 off select craft beer, Winter Wonderland cocktails and wine. During Happy Hour, professional “mall” Santas will enjoy their first drink for free when they “drop down the chimney” in full Santa attire and show credentials. Mall Santas in full attire will drink for half off all other times! Tinsel will end the season with a special New Year’s Eve Party and New Year’s Day Celebration. Details of New Year’s Eve and other special events will be announced shortly.

Tinsel is Philadelphia’s ONLY home-grown Christmas Bar that will bring even more Christmas cheer into the space formerly occupied by Simpson’s Jewelry in Midtown Village. Tinsel debuted to capacity crowds every single day it was open last year. Tinsel was originally opened in less than three weeks when Simpson’s moved out of the space next to Finn McCool’s. This year, Craft Concepts Group spent months on raising the ceilings, breaking through the walls, exposing the original grand staircase, lengthening the bar and creating even more space for holiday revelry.

“Craft Concepts Group is proud to pack even more Christmas cheer into Tinsel Christmas Pop-up Bar for the 2018 holiday season,” said Sourias. “In 2017, we purchased the 116 S. 12th Street building for future development. We opened Tinsel as a temporary concept to showcase our creativity and have some fun in between projects. We had no idea the concept would take off like it did. We were at full capacity with a line from day one to New Year’s. Tinsel’s popularity made our team want to bring back the concept and go even bigger this year. We expanded the space and created new design elements. We wanted to create one of the best Christmas bars in the country – with the intimacy of a smaller space, room to mix and mingle, with over-the-top decorations. After the opening of our largest project, Tradesman’s, Tinsel lets our team show off their creative chops and really have fun for the holidays. Come spend the holiday with us!”

DRINK AND FOOD

Tinsel will offer a full selection of liquor and spirits, Christmas cocktails and all-specialty Christmas beer drafts. Eight draft lines will pour draft beer and draft cocktails. Draft beers will focus on American and Belgium holiday specialty ales and beers throughout the season – with starting selections being:

Mall Santa Special

For St. Nick in the Industry, all professional Santas (mall, Christmas Village, Salvation Army, etc) in full attire drink for 50% off at all times. Proof of credentials may be asked for.

GIVING BACK

The “Canned Good” cocktail is new this year and features a take-home CCG exclusive can that features a free recipe on the back for the perfect mixture of holiday cheer. One dollar from every cocktail sold will be donated to MANNA to help people at acute nutritional risk due to life-threatening illnesses. MANNA prepares and delivers delicious nourishing meals and counsel, empowering individuals to battle illness and improve their quality of life. A small professional staff and 6,500 dedicated volunteers bring more than 95,000 nutritious, home-delivered meals each month to individuals and families living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.

MUSIC

Philadelphia DJ Robert Drake (Mr. Christmas) will add some of his holiday nuggets to the Tinsel musical mix to help spread the Christmas cheer! Drake is celebrating his 26th year hosting The Night Before on XPN (link: http://xpn.org/hohoho) – an annual takeover of public radio station WXPN every Christmas Eve! Drake goes live at the stroke of midnight December 24 and presents his eclectic collection of seasonal sounds for 24 nonstop hours until it’s Christmas!

Drake has worked with Craft Concepts Group in the past during the launch of UBAHN and is excited to once again join the team as they step into Christmas! To celebrate the season, pop into Tinsel for DJ Robert Drake’s Mr. Christmas Monday Mixers – December 10 and 17 from 5-7pm for specialty cocktails, holiday vibes and a chance to win one of several door prizes – which you can keep for yourself of regift and shorten that gift list by one!

LETTERS TO SANTA

Tinsel debuts brand-new custom Tinsel inspired post-cards this year. The first 500 people will enjoy a post-card with live postage. Write a note to Santa, send a letter home, spread some holiday cheer. Drop your post card in the “Letters to Santa” mailbox in the main bar area and Tinsel’s team will drop them daily at the post office for you.

SPACE

Tinsel returns to the newly renovated space this time with over 1,300 square feet of space. Craft Concepts Group tapped the talents of internal interior designer Anne White for design and decor – who also was the designer behind Tradesman’s. White worked with local artists and the CCG team to turn Tinsel into the perfect holiday wonderland.

In the main bar room, look for a brand-new custom bar top that is thirty-three feet long, and will seat more than a dozen bar stools. The custom top was designed with help from local artist Scott Johntson – who is known for his work at Silk City Diner and Franky Bradly’s. He also has designed art pieces in the past for Tradesman’s, BRU Craft & Wurst and U-Bahn.

Johntson pays homage to the icons and villains of Christmas – with custom artwork featuring Christmas Gremlin (Spike), Krampus, Snow Miser, Winter Warlock, Jack Skellington, Heat Miser and White Walker (from Game of Thrones). Above the bar, look for the Grinch, Bumble, Oogie Boggie Man and Robot Santa. Johntson also created new Christmas collage wall murals in the back of Tinsel using actual Christmas cards and magazines from Jinxed on East Passyunk, plus his own vintage designs.

Above the bar, look for a giant nine-foot tall Gingerbread House on one side, and on the other a full length brick carved winter scene with Santa and his reindeer.

Three gift box inverted chandeliers hang over the main bar, each four feet by four feet, and composed of 17 packages made from beer boxes. Each is covered in icicle lights for added bling. Outside of the main chandeliers, look for 40+ extra wrapped gifts and lights hanging inverted from the ceiling.

As you leave the main bar area, stop for a photo at the grand staircase and entrance to Santa’s workshop – with a Christmas tree (replenished with Candy Canes nightly!), packages, a mailbox for “Letters to Santa” plus CCG North Pole signs. As you head to the back rooms, look for White’s Christmas bow wall features over 1,000 Christmas bows. In the back room, look for a Christmas ornament chandelier created from over 500 glass and plastic ornament balls.

The biggest new surprise this year is the new Santa’s Throne room which is just big enough for Santa and his helpers for photo opps. The ornate throne was procured from a famous New York City retail store and brought back to Philadelphia for all those Instagram selfies. The gold and sparkling red throne is the perfect compliment to the red and green velvety curtains and the Tinsel custom light above.

Other highlights include a Jim Beam fireplace, dozens of wreaths, hundreds of strings of lights, reindeer antlers, glass ornaments, holiday flowers and much, much more.

SPECIAL HOLIDAY EVENTS

Tinsel is proud to be a featured bar on the brand-new Jingle Bars Holiday Bar Crawl on Saturday, December 22, 2018. Ticket sales open today for this new Christmas crawl that features Tinsel, BRU Craft & Wurst, U-Bahn, Kontrol, Tradesman’s, Smokin’ Betty’s, Stats on 17th, Tavern on Broad, Wrap Shack 11th Street, and more. Tickets are $5 to $20 and include discounted drinks ($3-5) plus holiday swag and a chance to win prizes. Jingle Bars is sponsored with support from Craft Concepts Group and Aversa PR. Tickets and information are found at: http://jinglebars.com/

Tinsel will also announce other events – including a new White Elephant Party where guests bring an unwanted gift from Christmas and swap it for something new! Tinsel will also announce New Year’s Eve and Day party plans in the near future. Stay tuned.

BUILDING

In 2017, the 100+ year former jewelry shop passed the baton from the sparkle of diamonds to now the twinkle of hundreds of holiday lights. Tinsel brought new life into the street level space that is was vacant.

Tinsel joins the ranks of Craft Concepts Group that now includes Tradesman’s, BRU Craft and Wurst, U-Bahn, Cinder, Finn McCool’s Ale House and Uptown Beer Garden.

Simpson’s Jewelry was a family run, full service, jewelry store which was established in 1895.

CREDIT: KORY AVERSA

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